Introduction
When many people think of transit connectivity, they’re immediately drawn to systems involving wheels: buses, trains, vans, bikes, and more. But numerous communities employ less traditional – but no less effective – means of moving people to build connections between neighborhoods, destinations and services.
Here, we take a look at some of these unconventional modes and strategies, from bus rapid transit in Nashville and transit-oriented development in Orlando, to novel travel modes such as inclined planes, ferry systems and aerial trams.
When many people think of transit connectivity, they’re immediately drawn to systems involving wheels: buses, trains, vans, bikes, and more. But numerous communities employ less traditional – but no less effective – means of moving people to build connections between neighborhoods, destinations and services.
Here, we take a look at some of these unconventional modes and strategies, from bus rapid transit in Nashville and…

Editor's Note: The nexus of transportation and health and the growing importance of the built environment and the availability of fresh produce in the battle against our national obesity epidemic are the subject of this week's Are We There Yet? excerpt.
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The emerging understanding about the relationships between physical activity, health and the built environment has pushed public health advocates into the arena of transportation and land-use planning, where they’ve gotten consistent and impressive results. For example, in Nashville, Tennessee, the regional planning agency has incorporated public health objectives into its transportation plan, which now includes a bike and transit network, and has provided immediate funding for a “complete streets” policy requiring 70 percent of roads — up from 2 percent — to include sidewalks and bike lanes.
In Tennessee, where one in three…

TRANSPORTWill Central Corridor Lessons Transfer to Southwest
Twin Cities Finance and Commerce
Businesses along the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line had to sue in federal court to get the Metropolitan Council to provide an estimate of how much revenue local establishments lost during the transit line's construction.

URBAN ISSUESNashville's Symphony In Trouble
The Urbanophile
Nashville has been on a roll in recent years, with a rapidly growing population (including a rapidly expanding immigrant base), robust job growth (#1 among large cities in 2012 on a percentage basis), and lots of positive national press.

TRANSPORTMoscow Tries Bike Sharing
New Yorker
"It's not easy to ride a bike in Moscow," cautioned Alexey Mityaev, the floppy-haired, jeans-wearing twenty-seven-year-old adviser to the head of the Moscow Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development, as we headed out on a test run of the city bike-share program that just launched in the Russian capital.

URBAN ISSUESUrban Infill is a Double Edge Sword
Nashville Ledger
There are certain things about Sylvan Park that lured resident Steve Swartz away from Belle Meade seven years ago, like the variety in architecture and diversity in character of the neighbors.